Internet is back on

I called FastWeb almost every day begging them to have someone come and look at my problem. My line had been down since Monday and I was surfing the Internet using a neighbor's open WiFi network. I admit I was lucky since I wasn't completely without Internet. Initially, I stood up near our apartment window to get a strong enough signal and eventually, I found a position where I could sit down, but work on a table with my computer on a box up against the window.

I was a little uncomfortable sitting at the window, but I was also distracted because I'd watch people walk through the piazza and others park their cars below. I also felt like I was on display, especially at night when I had all the lights on. I unfortunately had no choice. I did think of going to an Internet café a few times, but I just found it so much more comfortable to work at home that I couldn't drag myself out of the house.

On Wednesday, a tecnico (technician) from Telecom Italia called me to ask if I was home so he could come by and look at my telephone line in the apartment. Of course, when he called I was just about to go to an appointment and couldn't go home quickly enough.

I immediately called FastWeb telling them that I want to make an appointment for a tecnico because the problem is still persisting. The woman wasn't willing to help me any further and told me to just wait. After a few hours, I called back and spoke to a man to whom I told that I work from home and I desperately need my Internet connection back on. He was kind enough to write a message to the tecnico and say that I need them to come ASAP because I work from home.

Finally, this morning a young tecnico called me at 9:30 a.m. I didn't expect anyone to come and look at my line until at least Monday because I truly believed that no one worked on Saturdays.

The tecnico told me that he'll look into it at the centrale (central office near Piazza Repubblica) and call me back on my cell phone. When he called back fifteen minutes later, he said that he needed to come over to check the line from here.

Within ten minutes, he was at my door. He came up, attached some gizmo to my phone line, looked out the window a few seconds, and then told me that he had to go back to the centrale to see what was going on.

My biggest fear was that he'd leave and not call me back until Monday, but within a half an hour he called to say that they installed something on my line and it should be working just fine. I checked my phone immediately, but it wasn't working at all. He asked me for my home phone number, which is on the FastWeb line, and said that he'd call me on it in a half an hour to check again.

He called when he said he would and it worked. I thanked him profusely and told him to have a great day. I ran to my computer to check my Internet, but I had to restart my WiFi router to get it to work and once I did I was back in business.

I was so happy to have Internet back that I sat down at my desk and felt so much gratitude for the tecnico who came and fixed it on a Saturday morning. And, now that I have Internet, it feels like I've always had it. I have already forgotten about my discomfort at sitting near the window on a makeshift desk.

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